The Price of Freedom
by Delila Shale
Summary: Taken prisoner by a rouge predator, Shaili Gale is trapped in an alien world where death awaits her at every turn. She must adapt to their lifestyle and learn to fight for survial. A hated and feared outcast, Shaili will have to rely the predator she hat


  
  
The sound of Shaili's thumping heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the lewd shouts behind her. She made a sharp right turn, nearly falling as   
she stepped in a puddle of stagnant water. She quickly regained her balance in just enough time to avoid breaking her leg. Shaili ran for her life. She had been   
walking home from a late night movie, enjoying the calm, cool evening, when a group of frightening men stummbled out of a bar. They had obviously had too  
much to drink, and were falling over each other. One of them had spied Shaili walking alone on the streets of New York, slicked back his greasy hair with an even   
greasier palm and approached her with a toothy grin.  
"Hey, pretty lady," he croaked in Shaili's direction, " Looking for a good time?"   
  
The burly man winked and licked his lips. Shaili didn't need to smell the alcohol on his breath to know he was wasted. At nearly six feet tall, with a muscular build   
that would intimidate most men, Shaili recieved few admirers that weren't drunk , stoned or just plain despret. Not that she wasn't attractive, with her silky black hair,   
and unusual golden eyes, Shaili just wasn't the social standard of beautiful.   
  
She had smiled politley and said "No, thank you" and started to walk away. One of the burly man's drunken friends spoke up, "Hey, Bill, I think she's insult'n ya. Ya   
gonna let her get away with that?" Bill grinned stupidly and clumsy grabbed Shaili by the arm, pulling her towards him. Shaili was almost sickened by the smell of vomit,   
cigars and vodka that the man reeked of.  
  
"I don't think ya under-shand" Bill slurred, almost drooling on himself. "I'm a lookin for good time, and yous look pretty good to me."  
  
Bill yanked Shaili's hand close to his crotch as his four other friends gathered around, snickering and making crude comments. Which was a mistake. Shaili grabbed   
Bill by the crotch with her hand, digging her long natural nails into denium and flesh, and with her free hand, punched Bill in the face with all her might.There was a loud  
wet snap as Shaili's knuckles contacted with Bill's nose, breaking it, and sending a thick stream of blood cascading down the front of his shirt. Bill fell backwards with   
a pained gasp, and landed on the concrete with a thump. He sat up dazed as his buddies gathered around him. He inspected his shirt, saw the blood on it, and curled   
his fists up in rage.   
  
"Looks at what that bitch did ta my shirt!!!" He exclaimed, wiping his bloody nose with the back of his hand. "Well," He said to his friends, gestering to Shaili who was   
already running down the street. "Don't jus stand there!!!! Get the bitch!!!"  
  
Shaili had been running from them for nearly ten minutes now. She was beginning to tire and would have no energy to fight off a group of five drunk, adrenalin   
rushed maniacs. She glanced around her, finding herself in unfamiliar territory. She needed sanctuary, a place to hide and rest. She spied an abandoned subway entrance,   
and sprinted towards it. The metal gate had been exposed to the elements too long. Rusty and corroded, Shaili was able to knock it down with one well placed kick. The gate   
tumbled down the dark stair way, sending echoes thoughout the tunnel and stirring up ancient layers of dust.  
  
Shaili was bombarded with the smell of mold and dirt as she carefully made her way down the stairs. She paused to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, and carefully   
made her way over the the gate still lying in the middle of the stair way. She descended into the station, barely able to see. Shaili cocked her head and listened. She heard the   
sound of dripping water and the scampering of small creatures in the dark. She could make out the old train tracks and both ends of the tunnel. And...something else. She   
squinted and crept closer to the left tunnel enterance, careful not to fall over the edge. Yes, there was some distant greenish glow down that end of the tunnel and....Shaili   
stuck out her hand, yes, it seemed a little warmer too. Strange.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud clang and and even louder curse. She turned to witness the metal gate come crashing down the rest of the stairs and   
bounce onto the tracks. Shaili lept off the edge of the platform and crouched low, listening. She heard the distinct sound of some one cursing in anger and pain. She froze   
when she reconized the voice.  
  
"Shit!!!" Bill screamed clutching his ankel. Behind him his friends laughed at Bill's misstep into the gate. Bill shot his friends an evil glare. "Come on," he snarled.   
"Les jus get the bitch."  
  
As Bill and his posse made their way down the stairs, Shaili decided to follow the tunnel with the strange green light, hoping it was the neon lights of an occupied station.   
If there were people there, she would be safe. They wouldn't dare to attack her in a crowd of people. And if they did, surely someone would help her.   
  
Shaili ran down the tunnel, the glowing light getting brighter and brighter. Her foots steps clanked on the metalic railing, sending a strange echoing melody throughout the   
station. The air was becoming thick and heavy, making it difficult to breath. Shaili started to sweat, tremendously, as the temperature increased with every step.  
Behind her, Shaili heard the unmistakable sound of Bill and the others persuing her through the dark corrider. She looked over her shoulder and could make out Bill's massive form   
racing towards her with the others close behind.   
  
She ran faster......and tripped over an exposed beam. Shaili fell hard, putting her hands out to break her fall. A cloud of dirt and   
dust surrounded her, causing her to cough violently, as she struggled to her feet. Shaili looked up and found herself staring at the strangest thing she had ever seen. It looked like   
a gigantic, mechanical fish had died in the middle of the tracks. It's mouth gaped open, like a ramp, leading into a yellowish room that poured a thick fog into the tunnel. The fish-thing   
blocked the entire tunnel, leaving no way for Shaili to get around.  
  
"There she is" Bill yelled, pointing in Shaili's direction.   
  
They were only about one hundred feet away from her, and gaining fast. Shaili, having no choice, ran up the ramp, searching for something to defend herself with. She entered   
a hellish room filled with billowing fog and three large pillars in a trianglar pattern. The walls seem to glow with some strange hieroglaphic writting and a domed stained glass mural that   
would have put Leonardo to shame, was set in the ceiling over the pillars. There was a forboding hallway just behind the first pillar that seemed to lead nowhere.  
  
Shaili stopped in her tracks. The far wall to the left was concave, carved into bronze shelves and racks. In great contrast to the drab selves, sat several grinning skulls, gleaming dully in   
the eerie light. Shaili gasped in horror when she realized that some of the skulls were human....and some were unlike anything she had ever seen. Unnaturally long with what appeared to be some   
kind of bony armor, the other skulls stared at her through hollow sockets.  
  
Shaili backed away. She'd rather face Bill and the others than stay another moment in this horrid place. A heavy hand fell on her shoulder, digging cruelly into her soft flesh. Shaili turned   
to face Bill, in all his drunken glory, as he slammed her up against the pillar closest to the hallway. Shaili cried out in pain as her head struck the hard stone, causing her vision to swim.  
  
"Didn't think ya would give ush the shlip that easily, did ya?" Bill grinned, clamping even harder onto her shoulder. Shaili moaned, still trying to clear her vision.  
  
A tall lanky man grabbed Shaili's other arm and held her against the pillar, while Bill began to fiddle with his zipper. Shaili struggled to get free, but another two men seized her as well, pinning   
her completely. Shaili screamed as loud as she could, throwing her full weight forward in an effort to get free. Her effort was rewarded with a swift punch in the abs by Bill, knocking the wind out of her,   
and stifling her scream.  
  
"Shut up," Bill yelled, as Shaili doubled over. His pants were completely unzipped now and he played with Shaili's hair, twirling it between his fingers. Bill chuckled as Shaili squirmed. He bent to kiss her,   
but pulled back as he noticed a pattern of red lights travelling up his arm.   
  
"What the fu-" was all that Bill was able to utter before the red lasers lined up into a triangle and a gaping hole appeared in Bill's chest. Bill gurgled and fell to his knees, a large bloody bubble forming in   
his mouth. It burst, spraying all the astonished onlookers with droplets of blood. Bill collasped into a heap, disappearing beneath the fog.  
The lanky man released Shaili's arm and backed away in fear and confusion. His attention focused beyond Shaili on the simmering spectrum that had emerged from the corridor. His eyes widened as he   
saw a strange metallic flash descend upon him. The man opened his mouth to scream in terror, but his head was torn from his body before he could make a sound.  
  
The other men holding Shaili who, until now, had been frozen in horror, suddenly came to their senses. They released Shaili, who fell to the floor, barely conscience. Shaili lay on the hot floor,   
surrounded by yellow fog, despretly trying to catch her breath and clear her head. Around her, she heard screams echo off the chamber walls. Screams of horror, pain, and death. No doubt the posse   
had met the same fate as Bill.  
  
Shaili almost pitied them...almost, but the only thing she felt for sure was fear. She stretched her body on the floor in an attempt to stay concealed within the fog. Slowly, using her hands to   
feel around the dense fog, Shaili located the edge of the pillar and crawled behind it. Curling up into fetal possition, she pressed her body close against the stone, out of the sight of whatever had just   
attacked them.   
  
She heard the wet snap of bone shattering and repressed a shudder. Gathering up all of her courage, she warily peeked around the pillar edge...and quickly stifled a gasp. The creature was   
huge, massive in stature and muscle, with long dread-lock hair that was bound by small silver rings. It's skin was reptlian, yet smooth, spotted pale yellow on greenish-brown background, like the   
under belly of a snake. Some form of armor covered it's torso and knees while leather and mesh netting concealed other more personal parts of it's - no not it.........his - anatomy.  
  
The creature sat with his back was turned from Shaili, hunched over the corpse of one of the fallen men. Shaili jumped when two blades unexpectedly sprung forth from its wrists. The creature almost   
lovingly caressed the corpse's face, then with one fluid motion, decapitated it with the blades. He picked up the head by it's bloody hair and held it up to the light, turning it side to side, admiring it.   
He glanced down at the body, and with one swift kick from his clawed foot, set it rolling down the ramp, into the awaiting dirt. He pivoted on the balls of his feet and headed towards the selves, placing   
the bleeding head next to another human skull.   
  
Shaili pulled back, trying to make herself even smaller, and ducked under the fog. She was trying very hard not to breathe to loudly, though her lungs were screaming for oxygen. For a moment,   
all she heard was the pouding of her heart echoing in her ears, then, a buzzing sound filled the chamber.  
Shaili dared another look around the pillar, and discovered the creature using some sort of saw to cut a small opening in the head, and place a thin tube in the hole. When pinkish-gray brain tissue began   
to flow up the tube, Shaili turned away, deciding she had seen enough. She sat there for what seemed like an enternity, trying not to listen to the sounds, trying not to breathe, praying she wouldn't be noticed.  
  
At last, the noise stopped, and Shaili heard the heavy footsteps of the creature make their way towards the hallway, then, fade away into the distance. She waited, tensely, for about five more minutes,   
then bolted for the ramp. Except....except.....the ramp was closing!!! The floor under Shaili's feet began to shudder and shake, and from somewhere in the darkness, engines started. The hierogliphs on the walls   
became lucid, glowing like enraged fireflies. The temperature started to raise at an alarming rate. Shaili smelled burning rubber and glanced down to discover her the soles of her shoes were melting to the floor!!   
She tried despretly to hurry, but could barely keep her balance.  
  
Shaili reached the ramp just as it slammed in her face. She pounded on the door, successfully managing to burn herself on the heated surface. The ship began to arch upwards in preperation to launch.   
Shaili ran for the pillars in an attempt to hold on, but was thrown backward into the wall as the ship lurched forward and hurtled into deep space. She screamed as the glowing hierogliphs seared her inner arms   
and legs, imprinting them with the strange writing. She struggled to free herself, but the force of gravity held her firmly against the wall.  
  
With a sudden lurch, Shaili was violently propeled forward into the nearest pillar. Her body crumpled as it struck the unyielding surface and landed in a heep on the ship's floor. Shaili mustered her remaining   
strength and managed to roll on her side enough to cough up the blood that was choking her. She felt weightless, as if she had left her body and was watching everything from a distance. Her eyes wouldn't focus   
correctly and the chamber had become distorted. She didn't see the emmense clawed hand descending towards her until it was within two inches of her face. Then the world transformed into liquid and Shaili   
blacked out.  



End file.
